Regional crime lab will make important difference for investigators

This may be hard for fans of the "CSI" TV shows to understand, but results from a crime lab aren't delivered before the next commercial break.

In fact, depending on the severity of the crime, officers will wait weeks, even months, for results.

This reason alone makes us cheer for the groundbreaking of the $4 million regional crime lab. The ceremony took place last week. It took a decade to get to it.

The crime lab, when it's completed, will make things more efficient, said Sgt. Susan West of the Greeley Police Department, because evidence such as DNA will be processed in one location. Now officers drive evidence to labs scattered as far as Denver, which takes away from the crucial time needed to solve crimes. In fact, weeks sounds like a long time, but some evidence processed in a Denver crime lab took 18 months.

We agree. Investigations for severe crimes, such as the murders you might see on "CSI," were bumped to the top of the list, so the most horrific crimes weren't sitting on the shelf for months. But that just meant the petty crimes that swallow up most of the daily police docket had to be put off, making it more likely the thieves or vandals would get away with it and therefore strike again.

The lab will serve Larimer and Weld sheriff's offices and the police departments in Greeley, Loveland and Fort Collins. All will chip in for annual maintenance costs. The lab will be built near U.S. 34 and Colo. 257 in west Greeley.

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We also applaud officials such as Weld County Sheriff John Cooke, who advocated for a regional crime lab for nine years, even when discouraging events such as the recession threatened to keep it from ever being built. As it stands now, the lab will be finished by next fall.

This doesn't mean crimes will be solved in an hour. "CSI" is a TV show. But the lab will bring officers closer to making it happen.

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